Meltdown in Victoria

Victorians sweat through a heatwave with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting record or near-record November temperatures. Crowds flocked to St Kilda to cool off while others had to battle it out at work. Photo: Justin McManus

Advertisement

The state's hotspot was Mildura, where a maximum of 45.5c was recorded. That beat the state's previous November record of 45C, which dated back to 1905 in Mildura.

The biggest grass fire was near Baringhup, close to Maryborough, which spread over 200 hectares after starting about 3pm before being contained.

The Country Fire Authority also dealt with a blaze at Lillicur, 8km west of Talbot, which burned 20 hectares of grass and bush.

There were also grass fires in Edenhope, one near Avenel which caused smoke that disrupted traffic on the Hume Freeway, a plantation fire at Dartmoor and a four-hectare fire at Murtoa.

A CFA spokeswoman warned dry lightning could hit in the west of the state on Thursday evening, which could cause further problems.

Total fire bans are in place in the Mallee and Wimmera districts, with farmers, particularly in the state's northwest, warned of extreme fire risk.

Ambulance Victoria said it had dealt with 25 reports of heat-related illness by 4pm and an additional eight cases where children had been locked in cars, including a three-year-old and a two-year-old in Greensborough.

That was despite peak motoring body RACV warned motorists never to leave children or animals inside cars.

CitiPower customers in Melbourne's CBD and inner suburbs were hit by power outages, with 2500 homes losing power at some point on Thursday.

Some 1300 Powercor customers in central and western Victoria, and Melbourne's western suburbs, also experienced outages during the day.

In St Kilda East, a driver suffered minor injuries when a power pole exploded, causing his windscreen to shatter but authorities aren't sure if the incident was heatwave-related.

It was an uncomfortable journey home for some Melbourne workers. Commuters faced delays on a number of Metro train lines because of issues unrelated to the heat, after balloons floated into overhead cables near busy Southern Cross Station and a signal problem at Caulfield.